Children's books and activities
Music and Musicians
Many kids love to sing, write songs, play music, and even create their own homemade instruments. And some children are curious about the lives of famous singers, songwriters, and musicians. We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about music and musicians.
Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres [6] (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic, such as music and musicians. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge [7], vocabulary [8], and comprehension skills.
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Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Print List
A Neighborhood Walk, a Musical Journey
By: Pilar Winter Hill
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Fiction
"Honk-honk, tweet-tweet, patter-patter!" This sweet, fun read-aloud drums up nostalgia for all...
Purchase on Bookshop [24]
Purchase on Amazon [25]
A Tisket, a Tasket
By: Ella Fitzgerald
Age Level: 3-6 years old
The song made famous by jazz great Ella Fitzgerald in the 1930s has been re-created, re-...
Purchase on Amazon [26]
Bats in the Band
By: Brian Lies
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When the bats awaken from winter hibernation, not only do their stomachs grumble, they are...
Purchase on Bookshop [27]
Purchase on Amazon [28]
Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Age Level: 3-6 years old
John's music began when he listened to the music in his childhood. Semi-abstract...
Purchase on Bookshop [29]
Purchase on Amazon [30]
Ben's Trumpet
By: Rachel Isadora
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Ben wants to be a trumpeter, but he plays only an imaginary instrument until one of the...
Purchase on Bookshop [31]
Purchase on Amazon [32]
Bird & Diz
By: Gary Gallo
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Presents a rhythmic tribute to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and their creation of bebop....
Purchase on Bookshop [33]
Purchase on Amazon [34]
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop
By: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Inspired by jazz great Charlie Parker, rhythm and repetition are woven together to create a...
Purchase on Amazon [35]
Dooby Dooby Moo
By: Doreen Cronin
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When Duck reads about an upcoming talent show at the county fair, he organizes the animals on...
Purchase on Bookshop [36]
Purchase on Amazon [37]
Drum City
By: Thea Guidone
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A young boy begins banging on pots and pans in his front yard, enticing other children to join...
Purchase on Bookshop [38]
Purchase on Amazon [39]
Ear Worm!
By: Jo Knowles
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Fiction
One summer day, as Little Worm heads out to play, he discovers he has a song stuck in his head...
Purchase on Bookshop [40]
Purchase on Amazon [41]
Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist
By: Susan Wood
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Meet Juan García Esquivel whose contributions to music can still be heard. From his early days...
Purchase on Bookshop [42]
Purchase on Amazon [43]
Every Little Thing
By: Bob Marley, Cedella Marley
Age Level: 3-6 years old
In this illustrated version of Bob Marley's song, a young boy, with the encouragement of three...
Purchase on Amazon [44]
Forever Young
By: Bob Dylan
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Since it first appeared on the 1974 album Planet Waves, "Forever Young" has been one of Bob...
Purchase on Bookshop [45]
Purchase on Amazon [46]
Gus and Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar
By: Keith Richards
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Long before there was a band, there was a boy: a young Keith Richards, who was introduced to the...
Purchase on Amazon [47]
Hip Cat
By: Jonathan London
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A cool cat named Oobie-Do moves to San Francisco, plays his saxophone and works as a short order...
Purchase on Amazon [48]
Hip Hop Dog
By: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A mutt tells reveals a "doggy allegory" and how he went from "the saddest and the...
Purchase on Bookshop [49]
Purchase on Amazon [50]
I Got the Rhythm
By: Connie Scholfield-Morrison
Age Level: 3-6 years old
On a sunny day, a child and her mother go for a walk in the park. The rhythm the girl hears in...
Purchase on Bookshop [51]
Purchase on Amazon [52]
Jazz Baby
By: Lisa Wheeler
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Baby and his family make some jazzy music.
Purchase on Bookshop [53]
Purchase on Amazon [54]
Kenya's Song
By: Linda Trice
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Kenya is looking for a favorite song to share with her class. She and her father attend a...
Purchase on Bookshop [55]
Purchase on Amazon [56]
Let It Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals
By: Ashley Bryan
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Three well known spirituals, "This Little Light of Mine," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and...
Purchase on Bookshop [57]
Purchase on Amazon [58]
Let's Play!
By: Gabriel Alborozo
Age Level: 3-6 years old
From the tinkling tones of the tiny piccolo to the majesty of the grand piano or the deep...
Purchase on Bookshop [59]
Purchase on Amazon [60]
Little Pig Joins the Band
By: David Hyde Costello
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Little Pig has trouble keeping up with his older--and bigger--brothers and sisters. When they...
Purchase on Bookshop [61]
Purchase on Amazon [62]
Manuelo, the Playing Mantis
By: Don Freeman
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A praying mantis who longs to make music gets help from a spider name Debby Webster.
Purchase on Amazon [63]
Mole Music
By: David McPhail
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Feeling that something is missing in his simple life, Mole acquires a violin and learns to make...
Purchase on Bookshop [64]
Purchase on Amazon [65]
Music, Music for Everyone
By: Vera Williams
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When Rosa's grandmother becomes sick, Rosa comes up with an idea that not only makes...
Purchase on Bookshop [66]
Purchase on Amazon [67]
Musical Instruments Series
By: Xist Publishing
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Describes instruments, their parts, the different types, and how they are played.
Purchase on Bookshop [68]
Purchase on Amazon [69]
Olivia Forms a Band
By: Ian Falconer
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When Olivia learns that there will be no band at the evening's fireworks display, she decides to...
Purchase on Amazon [70]
One Love
By: Cedella Marley
Age Level: 3-6 years old
In this illustrated version of Bob Marley's song, a young girl enlists her friends, family, and...
Purchase on Bookshop [71]
Purchase on Amazon [72]
Peter and the Wolf
By: Chris Raschka, Sergei Prokofiev
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Retells the orchestral fairy tale in which a boy ignores his grandfather's warnings and captures...
Purchase on Bookshop [73]
Purchase on Amazon [74]
Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum
By: Robert Andrew Parker
Age Level: 3-6 years old
The story of young Art Tatum, who became one of the all-time greats of jazz.
Purchase on Bookshop [75]
Purchase on Amazon [76]
Punk Farm
By: Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Age Level: 3-6 years old
At the end of the day, while Farmer Joe gets ready for bed, his animals tune their instruments...
Purchase on Bookshop [77]
Purchase on Amazon [78]
Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf
By: Sergei Prokofiev
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Despite Grandfather's warning about wolves in the forest, Peter and his animal friends capture...
Purchase on Bookshop [79]
Purchase on Amazon [80]
Shake, Rattle & Turn That Noise Down!
By: Mark Alan Stamaty
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Recounts the author's childhood determination to emulate Elvis Presley after being inspired by...
Purchase on Amazon [81]
The Orchestra Pit
By: Johanna Wright
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Even though the green-spotted snake wanders into the wrong pit – an orchestra pit – he takes the...
Purchase on Amazon [82]
This Jazz Man
By: Karen Ehrhardt
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Nonfiction
Presents an introduction to jazz music and nine well-known jazz musicians, set to the rhythm of...
Purchase on Bookshop [83]
Purchase on Amazon [84]
This Land is Your Land
By: Woodie Guthrie
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Guthrie's folk song begins a journey across the United States. Highly detailed, richly colored...
Purchase on Amazon [85]
Tito Puente, Mambo King
By: Monica Brown
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase on Bookshop [86]
Purchase on Amazon [87]
Uptown
By: Bryan Collier
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Join a boy as he takes you uptown to introduce his Harlem home, filled with excitement, sounds,...
Purchase on Bookshop [88]
Purchase on Amazon [89]
When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson
By: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Marian Anderson was an extraordinary contralto whose talent was celebrated in Europe long before...
Purchase on Bookshop [90]
Purchase on Amazon [91]
Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People
By: Bonnie Christensen
Age Level: 3-6 years old
An introductory biography of famous folk singer Woody Guthrie presented as a picture book with a...
Purchase on Amazon [92]
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Print List
A Band of Angels
By: Deborah Hopkinson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Ella Sheppard was one of the original Jubilee Singers from what is now known as Fisk University...
Purchase on Bookshop [93]
Purchase on Amazon [94]
A Good Night for Ghosts
By: Mary Pope Osborne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Jack and Annie go to New Orleans on All Saint's Day in 1915 to find a young musician named Louis...
Purchase on Amazon [95]
A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice
By: Nadia Hohn
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Louise Bennett Coverley, better known as Miss Lou, was a Jamaican poet and entertainer who used...
Purchase on Bookshop [96]
Purchase on Amazon [97]
Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band
By: Kwame Alexander
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When a jazz-loving rooster sets his sights on winning a barnyard talent show, he realizes he can...
Purchase on Bookshop [98]
Purchase on Amazon [99]
Ada's Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay
By: Susan Hood
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A town built on a landfill. A community in need of hope. A girl with a dream. A man with a...
Purchase on Bookshop [100]
Purchase on Amazon [101]
Banjo Granny
By: Sarah Martin Busse, Jacqueline Martin
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
Owen’s singing, banjo-playing Granny goes out “to cross one river, one mountain, and a desert”...
Purchase on Amazon [102]
Boys Dancing: From School Gym to Theater Stage
By: George Ancona
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Elementary school-age boys start at the beginning of the school year to study with Pamela at the...
Purchase on Bookshop [103]
Purchase on Amazon [104]
Bremen Town Musician
By: Jacob Grimm
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
This is the classic tale of four beleaguered animals—a donkey who can no longer work, a hound...
Purchase on Amazon [105]
Can You Hear It?
By: William Lach
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Introduces children to music through works of art. Pictures set the scene for the music, and...
Purchase on Bookshop [106]
Purchase on Amazon [107]
Celia Cruz: Queen of Salsa
By: Veronica Chambers
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Celia Cruz began singing on the streets of Havana as a child. She grew up to become a legendary...
Purchase on Amazon [108]
Change Sings: A Children's Anthem
By: Amanda Gorman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Poetry
As a young girl leads a cast of characters on a musical journey, they learn that they have the...
Purchase on Bookshop [109]
Purchase on Amazon [110]
Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson's Journey to the Stars
By: Gary Golio
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
The story of Blind Willie Johnson — the legendary Texas musician whose song "Dark Was the Night...
Purchase on Bookshop [111]
Purchase on Amazon [112]
Dizzy
By: Jonah Winter
Age Level: 6-9 years old
John Birks Gillespie was an angry child from an abusive home. He was able to overcome huge...
Purchase on Amazon [113]
Django: World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist
By: Bonnie Christensen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Born into a poor Roma family, Django Reinhardt's musical talent takes him to perform on European...
Purchase on Amazon [114]
Drum Dream Girl: One Girl's Courage Changed Music
By: Margarita Engle
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Follows a girl in the 1920s as she strives to become a drummer, despite being continually...
Purchase on Bookshop [115]
Purchase on Amazon [116]
Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite
By: Anna Harwell Celenza
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Duke Ellington's collaboration with a classically trained colleague resulting in unique...
Purchase on Amazon [117]
Elizabeth's Song
By: Michael Wenberg
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A fictionalized account of how an 11-year-old girl, Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten, saved to buy her...
Purchase on Bookshop [118]
Purchase on Amazon [119]
Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa
By: Andrea Pinkney
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From her early days in Harlem to becoming the First Lady of Jazz, the story of Ella Fitzgerald...
Purchase on Amazon [120]
Ellington Was Not a Street
By: Kadir Nelson, Ntozake Shange
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Handsome illustrations of Shange's evocative poem, "Mood Indigo," pay homage to the many African...
Purchase on Bookshop [121]
Purchase on Amazon [122]
Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King
By: Bonnie Christensen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A picture-book biography of a poor kid from Tupelo, Mississippi, who became an American musical...
Purchase on Bookshop [123]
Purchase on Amazon [124]
Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist
By: Susan Wood
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Meet Juan García Esquivel whose contributions to music can still be heard. From his early days...
Purchase on Bookshop [42]
Purchase on Amazon [43]
Purchase audio version [125]
Fab Four Friends
By: Susanna Reich
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Through paintings and text, this book traces the history and rise in popularity of the Beatles...
Purchase on Bookshop [126]
Purchase on Amazon [127]
Finding the Music/En pos de la musica
By: Jennifer Torres
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Reyna accidentally breaks her abuelo’s vihuela and tries to fix it before her family finds out....
Purchase on Amazon [128]
Flowers for Sarajevo
By: John McCutcheon
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Drasko is Milo’s son who carries on his father’s flower business even after things in Sarajevo...
Purchase on Bookshop [129]
Purchase on Amazon [130]
For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart
By: Elizabeth Rusch, Steve Johnson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The life of Wolfgang’s older sister, Maria Anna, follows the form of a piano sonata which...
Purchase on Amazon [131]
Freedom in Congo Square
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Join the rhythmic countdown to Sunday afternoon, the one time when enslaved Africans in 19th...
Purchase on Bookshop [132]
Purchase on Amazon [133]
Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin
By: Chieri Uegaki
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Inspired by memories of the time she spent in Japan with her grandfather, a professional...
Purchase on Bookshop [134]
Purchase on Amazon [135]
Harlem
By: Walter Dean Myers
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Experienced readers will enjoy this stunning and sophisticated visit to Harlem in word and image...
Purchase on Bookshop [136]
Purchase on Amazon [137]
Harlem Renaissance Party
By: Faith Ringgold
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Lonnie travels back in time to meet many of the artists, writers, and musicians of the Harlem...
Purchase on Bookshop [138]
Purchase on Amazon [139]
Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills
By: Renee Watson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase on Bookshop [140]
Purchase on Amazon [141]
How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz
By: Jonah Winter
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Jelly Roll Morton became – to his grandmother’s horror – a musician in New Orleans, developing...
Purchase on Amazon [142]
I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello
By: Barbara Garriel
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An adaptation of the folk rhyme "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly," featuring musical...
Purchase on Bookshop [143]
Purchase on Amazon [144]
Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl
By: Debbi Michiko Florence
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Third-grader, Jasmine Toguchi, wants to enter her school’s talent show, but what talent could...
Purchase on Bookshop [145]
Purchase on Amazon [146]
Purchase Kindle version [147]
John Coltrane's Giant Steps
By: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 6-9 years old
John Coltrane's musical composition is performed by a box, a snowflake, some raindrops, and a...
Purchase on Bookshop [148]
Purchase on Amazon [149]
Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed
By: Leslea Newman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Moshe Cotel was a composer who lived in a noisy building on a noisy street in a noisy city. But...
Purchase on Bookshop [150]
Purchase on Amazon [151]
Leontyne Price: Voice of a Century
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Born in the Mississippi Delta in 1927, the always musically gifted Mary Violet Leontyne Price...
Purchase on Amazon [152]
Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotton
By: Laura Veirs
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotton heard music all around her growing up in North Carolina. She became a...
Purchase on Bookshop [153]
Purchase on Amazon [154]
Listen to the Birds: An Introduction to Classical Music
By: Ana Gerhard
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Provides an introduction to classical music, describing how birds have inspired composers...
Purchase on Bookshop [155]
Purchase on Amazon [156]
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
By: Katheryn Russell-Brown
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Melba Doretta Liston loved the sounds of music from as far back as she could remember....
Purchase on Bookshop [157]
Purchase on Amazon [158]
Little Rat Makes Music
By: Monica Bang-Campbell
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
Little Rat wants to be musical and play an instrument just as do the other members of her family...
Purchase on Amazon [159]
M Is for Music
By: Kathleen Krull
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
The alphabet is used as a device to introduce the vocabulary for a range of musical styles as...
Purchase on Amazon [160]
Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens
By: Nina Nolan
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This brief, broad introduction to gospel great, Mahalia Jackson, is sure to inform as well as...
Purchase on Bookshop [161]
Purchase on Amazon [162]
Max Found Two Sticks
By: Brian Pinkney
Age Level: 6-9 years old
It was a day when Max didn't feel like talking to anyone. He just sat on his front steps and...
Purchase on Bookshop [163]
Purchase on Amazon [164]
Moses Goes to a Concert
By: Isaac Millman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Moses and his schoolmates, all deaf, attend a concert where the orchestra's percussionist is...
Purchase on Bookshop [165]
Purchase on Amazon [166]
Mr. Putter and Tabby Toot the Horn
By: Cynthia Rylant
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Mr. Putter's neighbor, Mrs. Teaberry, decides that they should join a band, but finding the...
Purchase on Bookshop [167]
Purchase on Amazon [168]
Music for Mr. Moon
By: Erin Stead
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
Harriet just wants to play her cello alone. But when she accidentally knocks the lonely moon...
Purchase on Bookshop [169]
Purchase on Amazon [170]
My Name Is Celia/Me llamo Celia
By: Monica Brown
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase on Bookshop [171]
Purchase on Amazon [172]
Odetta: The Queen of Folk
By: Stephen Alcorn
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The life and music of Odetta who became an influential folksinger and civil rights activist is...
Purchase on Amazon [173]
Penny and Her Song
By: Kevin Henkes
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Henkes' first easy reader introduces Penny and her mouse family in two appealing chapters. Penny...
Purchase on Bookshop [174]
Purchase on Amazon [175]
Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum
By: Robert Andrew Parker
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Art Tatum came from modest beginnings and was nearly blind, but his passion for the piano and...
Purchase on Bookshop [75]
Purchase on Amazon [76]
Play, Mozart, Play!
By: Peter Sís
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was not only a famous composer and a musical genius; his father turned...
Purchase on Amazon [176]
Roly-Polies
By: Mónica Carretero
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
Beneath a large cabaret theater lived a huge family of roly-polies. The cabaret was open at...
Purchase on Bookshop [177]
Purchase on Amazon [178]
Simple Gifts
By: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A familiar traditional Shaker hymn has been interpreted in bold, semi-abstract, jewel-toned...
Purchase on Amazon [179]
Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald
By: Eileen L. Ordover
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From a poor girl who had "a dancing beat in her feet ever since she was a bitty girl"...
Purchase on Amazon [180]
Sweet Music in Harlem
By: Debbie Taylor
Age Level: 6-9 years old
CJ's uncle, a well known jazz musician, has lost his signature hat and sends the boy out to...
Purchase on Amazon [181]
Swing Sisters: The Story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm
By: Karen Deans
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The story of a group of African American orphans who played in their school's all-girl swing...
Purchase on Bookshop [182]
Purchase on Amazon [183]
Teach Your Buffalo to Play Drums
By: Audrey Vernick
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Encourages the reader, through practical advice, to support his or her buffalo's desire to play...
Purchase on Bookshop [184]
Purchase on Amazon [185]
The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny)
By: Kathleen Krull
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A group of young men from Liverpool changed the world of music and they enjoyed a good laugh —...
Purchase on Bookshop [186]
Purchase on Amazon [187]
The Cardboard Piano
By: Lynne Rae Perkins
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Debbie is taking piano lessons and makes a cardboard piano for her friend Tina. But when Tina...
Purchase on Amazon [188]
The Carnival of the Animals
By: Jack Prelutsky
Age Level: 6-9 years old
New poems, many rhyming, describe the animals introduced in Saint-Saens' orchestral music that...
Purchase on Bookshop [189]
Purchase on Amazon [190]
The Composer Is Dead
By: Lemony Snicket
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An inspector seeks to solve a murder mystery at the symphony by questioning each of the musical...
Purchase on Bookshop [191]
Purchase on Amazon [192]
The Deaf Musicians
By: Pete Seeger, Paul Dubois Jacobs
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An inspector seeks to solve a murder mystery at the symphony by questioning each of the musical...
Purchase on Amazon [193]
The First Flute
By: David Bouchard, Jan Reibach
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When a name is given to an adult, it is often given based on the life that person has lived. The...
Purchase on Bookshop [194]
Purchase on Amazon [195]
The Golden Thread: A Song for Pete Seeger
By: Colin Meloy
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Pete Seeger was a musician, an activist, an environmentalist and more. An overview of his life...
Purchase on Bookshop [196]
Purchase on Amazon [197]
Purchase audio version [198]
The Little Piano Girl
By: Ann Ingalls, Maryann Macdonald
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A child prodigy at the piano sprinkles her music with a little jazz. Includes an afterword about...
Purchase on Amazon [199]
The Piano
By: William Miller
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A young girl's love for music leads her to a job in the home of an older woman who teaches her...
Purchase on Bookshop [200]
Purchase on Amazon [201]
The Shoe Bird
By: Barbara M. Joosse
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An absurd but satisfying fantasy based on Eudora Welty's only children’s work, is presented in...
Purchase on Bookshop [202]
Purchase on Amazon [203]
Trombone Shorty
By: Trou "Trombone Shorty" Andrews
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Troy Andrews grew up in a New Orleans family of musicians so it’s not surprising that he, too,...
Purchase on Bookshop [204]
Purchase on Amazon [205]
Tuba Lessons
By: T.C. Bartlett
Age Level: 6-9 years old
While walking through the woods on his way to his tuba lesson, a boy becomes sidetracked by all...
Purchase on Amazon [206]
Ukulele Hayley
By: Judy Cox
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Hayley has finally found her talent: playing ukelele like her great-aunt Ruby, who traveled all...
Purchase on Bookshop [207]
Purchase on Amazon [208]
When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan
By: Gary Gallo
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This picture-book biography follows a young Bob Zimmerman as he renames himself after his...
Purchase on Bookshop [209]
Purchase on Amazon [210]
When Grandmama Sings
By: Margaree King Mitchell
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Belle goes with her talented grandmother on a singing tour during a time of racial segregation...
Purchase on Bookshop [211]
Purchase on Amazon [212]
When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky
By: Lauren Stringer
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Stravinsky, a composer, and a dancer named Nijnsky each worked alone until they met. Their...
Purchase on Amazon [213]
When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
By: Laban Carrick Hill
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From his early childhood in Jamaica, Clive loved all types of music. When he was 13 years old,...
Purchase on Bookshop [214]
Purchase on Amazon [215]
Yellow Dog Blues
By: Alice Faye Duncan
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
A lyrical road trip through the Mississippi Delta, exploring the landmarks that shaped one of...
Purchase on Bookshop [216]
Purchase on Amazon [217]
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
By: Lloyd Moss
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When this book begins, the trombone is playing all by itself. But soon a trumpet makes a duet, a...
Purchase on Bookshop [218]
Purchase on Amazon [219]
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Print List
All Summer Long
By: Hope Larson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
Bina’s first summer without her best friend, Austin, proves to be an emotional roller coaster....
Purchase on Bookshop [220]
Purchase on Amazon [221]
Purchase Kindle version [222]
Amina's Voice
By: Hena Khan
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
Amina loves music, but stage fright and her conservative uncle’s disapproval hamper her...
Purchase on Bookshop [223]
Purchase on Amazon [224]
Purchase audio version [225]
Purchase Kindle version [226]
Audition & Subtraction
By: Amy Fellner Dominy
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Tatum, a 14-year-old clarinetist, competes with new student Michael for a spot in honor band,...
Purchase on Amazon [227]
Better Nate Than Ever
By: Tim Federle
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
Nate Foster has big dreams. His whole life, he’s wanted to star in a Broadway show. But how is...
Purchase on Bookshop [228]
Purchase on Amazon [229]
Purchase audio version [230]
Purchase Kindle version [231]
Blackbird Fly
By: Erin Entrada Kelly
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Bullied at school, eighth-grader Apple, a Filipino American who loves the music of the Beatles,...
Purchase on Bookshop [232]
Purchase on Amazon [233]
Blues Journey
By: Walter Dean Myers
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Rich paintings in limited colors convey the power of a people and a piece of their history. Done...
Purchase on Bookshop [234]
Purchase on Amazon [235]
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
By: Rita Williams-Garcia
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Clayton Byrd adores his grandfather, loves the jazz Cool Papa plays with the other bluesmen in...
Purchase on Bookshop [236]
Purchase on Amazon [237]
Dreambender
By: Ronald Kidd
Age Level: 9-12 years old
In a world where dreambenders manipulate dreams in order to remove emotions both negative and...
Purchase on Bookshop [238]
Purchase on Amazon [239]
Echo
By: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A harmonica and a bit of magic link different children from different times.
Purchase on Bookshop [240]
Purchase on Amazon [241]
Firebird
By: Misty Copeland
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Misty Copeland, the African American Ballet Theater soloist, has an encouraging conversation...
Purchase on Bookshop [242]
Purchase on Amazon [243]
Great American Mousical
By: Emma Walton Hamilton
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase on Amazon [244]
Guitar Notes
By: Mary Amato
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Two very different high school students discover a mutual appreciation for writing songs for the...
Purchase on Bookshop [245]
Purchase on Amazon [246]
High-Tech DIY Projects with Musical Instruments
By: Maggie Murphy
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Provides information about music, instruments, and sound while offering step-by-step...
Purchase on Bookshop [247]
Purchase on Amazon [248]
I Am Drums
By: Mike Grosso
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
When Sam’s school music program goes under, and her parents can’t afford to buy her a drum kit...
Purchase on Amazon [249]
Purchase Kindle version [250]
I Heart Band Series
By: Michelle Schusterman
Age Level: 9-12 years old
The books follow French horn player Holly Mead as she navigates middle school friendships and...
Purchase on Amazon [251]
Jazz
By: Walter Dean Myers
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Experience the explosion of color and movement of jazz as you pulsate with its beat in a vibrant...
Purchase on Bookshop [252]
Purchase on Amazon [253]
Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph
By: Roxanne Orgill
Age Level: 9-12 years old
In 1958, photographer Art Kane gathered up a who’s who of jazz musicians on a New York City...
Purchase on Amazon [254]
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker
By: Patricia Hruby Powell
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Josephine Baker’s life and struggles of this performer and activist comes to life.
Purchase on Bookshop [255]
Purchase on Amazon [256]
Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies
By: Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase on Amazon [257]
Learn to Speak Music
By: John Crossingham
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Learn to Speak Music helps young readers learn this universal language of music by revealing...
Purchase on Amazon [258]
Legends, Icons & Rebels: Music That Changed the World
By: Robbie Robertson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Part memoir, part tribute, and all great storytelling. Music industry veterans Robbie Robertson...
Purchase on Amazon [259]
Let Your Voice Be Heard: The Life and Times of Pete Seeger
By: Anita Silvey
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Pete Seeger lived a long life sharing his music and his convictions about equality with...
Purchase on Bookshop [260]
Purchase on Amazon [261]
Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought)
By: Kathleen Krull
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Short, fresh and fun essays present a broad array of musicians and their music - from Bach to...
Purchase on Amazon [262]
Maker Projects for Kids Who Love Music
By: Rebecca Sjonger
Age Level: 9-12 years old
For kids into music, this title cant be beat! From inspiring profiles of key Maker musicians, to...
Purchase on Bookshop [263]
Purchase on Amazon [264]
Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Ša, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist
By: Gina Capaldi, Q.L. Pearce
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Born in 1876 on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota, Zitkala-Ša willingly left her...
Purchase on Bookshop [265]
Purchase on Amazon [266]
Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound
By: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Listen to the “groove” as readers make their way through the history of Motown, the people who...
Purchase on Bookshop [267]
Purchase on Amazon [268]
Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!
By: Robert Levine
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
Describes the orchestra and includes information on composers, instruments, and the conductor....
Purchase on Amazon [269]
The First Rule of Punk
By: Celia C. Pérez
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
When her “Super Mexican” mother drags her across the country, away from her father, what better...
Purchase on Bookshop [270]
Purchase on Amazon [271]
Purchase Kindle version [272]
The Flute
By: Rachna Gilmore
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Her parents swept away by a catastrophic flood, Chandra finds solace in her mother's magic flute...
Purchase on Bookshop [273]
Purchase on Amazon [274]
The Music in George’s Head: George Gershwin Creates Rhapsody in Blue
By: Suzanne Slade
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Illustrations in blues and grays combine with words to flow across the pages of this handsome...
Purchase on Bookshop [275]
Purchase on Amazon [276]
The Rising Star of Rusty Nail
By: Lesley M. Blume
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Hansen is a 10-year-old piano prodigy living in Rusty Nail, Minnesota. She's long exhausted the...
Purchase on Bookshop [277]
Purchase on Amazon [278]
The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman
By: Ben H. Winters
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
Spurred by a special project from social studies teacher, seventh grader Bethesda Fielding...
Purchase on Bookshop [279]
Purchase on Amazon [280]
The Sweetest Sound
By: Sherri Winston
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
Ten-year-old Cadence Mariah Jolley is surrounded by music. She inherited a beautiful voice from...
Purchase on Amazon [281]
Purchase Kindle version [282]
The Voice That Challenged a Nation
By: Russell Freedman
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A Newbery Honor book that accounts the life and musical career of the great African American...
Purchase on Amazon [283]
What Is Rock and Roll?
By: Jim O'Connor
Age Level: 9-12 years old
This entry in the popular "Who Was" series covers the background of rock and roll music that...
Purchase on Bookshop [284]
Purchase on Amazon [285]
Hands-on Activities
Build on what you're learning together through books with these family-friendly activities, experiments, and crafts.
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Bee Hummer [286]
-
Benny’s Music Class [287]
National Museum of American History -
Bottle Cap Castanets [288]
-
Brazilian Cuica Drum [289]
-
Call and Response Singing [290]
Start with a Book -
Cereal Box Guitar [291]
-
Design an Album Cover [292]
Start with a Book -
Draw to Music [293]
Start with a Book -
Duct Tape Drum [294]
-
Duke’s Music Class [295]
National Museum of American History -
Ella’s Singing Class [296]
National Museum of American History -
Homemade Kazoo [297]
-
Louis’ Music Class [298]
National Museum of American History -
Making Music: Literacy Tips for Parents [299]
-
Move to Music [300]
Start with a Book -
Music to Our Ears [301]
-
Musical Scavenger Hunt [302]
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Outdoor Sound Wall [303]
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Pin Strummers [304]
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Posicle Stick Harmonica [305]
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Rainstick I [306]
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Rainstick II [307]
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Recycled Instruments [308]
Start with a Book -
River Music [309]
-
Shoebox Guitar [310]
-
Song Cubes [311]
-
Song Lyrics Wall Art [312]
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Sound & Volume Vibrations Experiment [313]
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Sound Automata [314]
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Sound Box Listening Game [315]
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StikBots Music Video [316]
-
Voice Pipe [317]
-
Water Bottle Membranophone [318]
Summer Writing
Give kids a chance to flex their writing muscles all summer long. Try one of these prompts, selected from our writing contest archives and other literacy organizations.
Great Websites for Kids
Dive deeper into topics of interest with these media-rich and interactive sites.
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Brain Pop: Arts and Music [321]
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Carnegie Hall: Music Educators Toolbox [322]
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Chrome Music Lab [323]
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Citizen DJ (Library of Congress) [324]
-
Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Kids [325]
-
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Teacher Guides [326]
-
Famous Artists and Musicians [327]
$
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Instruments from Around the World [328]
-
Kennedy Center: A Parents’ Field Guide to the Symphony [329]
-
Kennedy Center: Arts Resources for Educators [330]
-
Let’s Sing Together: Spotify's Top Family Friendly Playlists [331]
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Listen: Making Sense of Sound [332]
-
Little Kids Rock [333]
-
Math Science Music [334]
-
New York Philharmonic Education [335]
-
Perfect Pitch [336]
-
Rock Hall EDU [337]
-
San Francisco Symphony for Kids [338]
-
Science of Music [339]
-
Sing-Along Songs [340]
-
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings [341]
-
Smithsonian Groovin’ to Jazz [342]
-
Sounds of the Silk Road [343]
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Summer Sounds: Insect Songs [344]
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The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra [345]
-
WETA’s Take Note! Guide to Classical Music [346]
Great Podcasts for Kids
Listen and learn with these podcasts especially for kids. These podcasts are free and easy to listen to from any device via Apple Podcasts [347], Google Podcasts [348], or Stitcher [349] — or from Listen Notes [350], a podcast search engine.
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A Scientific Songtacular [351]
Wow in the World (NPR)
-
Mary Farfisa's Outer Space Radio Theater [352]
Jim Cheff
-
Music! Marian Anderson, The Great Caruso and more! [353]
The Past and the Curious
-
Noodle Loaf [354]
-
Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl [355]
WAWL Radio
-
Song of the Singing Mouse [356]
Wow in the World (NPR)
-
The Music Box [357]
Louisville Public Media
Educational Apps
Educational apps recommended by Common Sense Media and other trusted reviewers.
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ABC Music [358]
$
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Beat Sneak Bandit [359]
$
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Duckie Deck Homemade Orchestra [360]
$
-
Groove Coaster 2 [361]
$
-
Incredibox [362]
$
-
LOOPIMAL [363]
$
-
MiniPiano [364]
-
Morton Subotnick's Pitch Painter [365]
$
-
Musical Me [366]
-
Mussila [367]
$
-
My First Classical Music App [368]
$
-
Sound Rebound [369]
$
More Themed Resources
Growing Readers Tip Sheets
Simple activities for parents and kids to do together to build reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Read online or print the PDF.
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Listen and Learn with Audio Books [370]
Download PDF: English [371] | Spanish [372] -
Making Music: Literacy Tips for Parents [373]
Download PDF: English [374] | Spanish [375]
Our Summer Blog
Washington DC for Kids
